Christopher Mazzone

Info

Biography

I graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2009 with a BS in Psychology and a minor in neuroscience. Following graduation, I worked as a technician at the University of Connecticut Health Center under Drs. Richard Mains and Betty Eipper. I enrolled in UNC's BBSP in the Fall of 2011 and subsequently joined the Curriculum in Neurobiology before entering Dr. Thomas Kash's lab in the spring of 2012.

Research

I am currently interested in studying the neurocircuitry of anxiety and addiction, specifically within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, a neurochemically diverse component of the extended amygdala. This region plays an important role in regulating emotional behaviors and can be profoundly impacted by affective disorders and addiction. I hope to isolate discrete populations of neurons within this structure by using optogenetic and pharmacogenetic approaches in transgenic mouse lines, which may ultimately lead to more specific therapeutic targets for the treatment of anxiety- and addiction-related disorders.